A/N: Omg I'm soo sorry for never updating. I got a bit of criticism from a friend who didn't review to the story itself, but directly to me… and it kinda threw me off for a while. But here it is… I hope you guys like it. R&R

The next week went by in a blur for both Bradin and Ericka. Between back-to-school shopping, sports conditioning, and texting each other neither one had much time to do anything else. Although they were busy, time couldn't have seemed any slower as they both awaited the arrival of Saturday night. Once Friday rolled around, it was the only thing that either of them could think about.

At football practice, Bradin called wrong plays and got sacked countless times due to his shortened attention span. Ericka messed all of her chants up at cheer practice and caused the whole team to run ten suicides each. The day turned out to be bittersweet for both. Bitter because of the countless mess-ups they both had to endure. Sweet because it drew them to the day they finally got to go on a date.

At six p.m. Ericka was relaxing on her bed, reading Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen, when she received a text. She lazily put her book down and rolled over so she could grab her phone. Without looking to see who it was from she flipped her phone open to find

I miss you. Xx Bradin

She smiled and typed her reply.

When his answered message came through Bradin was lying on his couch flipping through some channels to see if the Mets were playing that night. His phone started playing Check Yes Juliet, her ringtone. He smiled and read her reply.

I miss you more! Haha I can't wait till tomorrow. So where are we going?

When he finally replied, Ericka frowned as she read the message.

NOSY! Haha you'll know tomorrow! I won't tell you until then.

She smiled through her aggravation and said fine. She loved surprises, so she decided to let him keep her wondering. She was sure it'd be worth it.

The next day came quickly to both of their surprises. At 8 am Ericka rolled out of bed and threw some shorts on along with a t-shirt and got ready for her 9 o'clock practice. It was only an hour long so she knew it should be pretty painless. After she was ready and finished off a bowl of special K she had about ten extra minutes so she headed back upstairs to look for a dress to wear on her date. All of her dresses were either too dressy or not enough, so she was out of options. She gave up on her own wardrobe and decided she'd just have to go to the mall after practice. That was cool with her anyway; it'd defiantly kill some time. She'd ask Cricket to go with her, but she'd have to keep the reason a secret. With this she got in her car and drove to the school.

Ericka arrived at 8:55, and found most of the girls stretching on the practice football field, since the football players were on the real one. Halfway through practice they broke into pairs to go over the new dance, so she and cricket paired off (cricket was co captain).

"So," Ericka began, "I need to go get a new dress after practice. Do you wanna come with?"

"Sure, what's the dress for?"

"This dinner my dad has tonight. Mom's away on business so he's taking me."

"Oh, that's nice. We'll go to Hollister; they have tons of cute dresses right now!"

"Cool. Sounds great." And just that fast she lied to her best friend, and felt absolutely terrible. She vowed that she'd eventually break the news as soon as she knew it was the right time… it just wouldn't be today.

At 10 am, Bradin called a 5 minute rest from practice to signify it was half over. He went to the bleachers, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and downed half a water bottle. Derek jogged over to join him.

"Hey man, your plays this year are killer. We're so gonna trash northern at our opener!" Immediately Bradin's thoughts flew to Ericka. He didn't even want to think about playing her team.

"Yeah man thanks." But just like that Derek's attention was elsewhere. He was checking out the cheerleaders on the next field who were practicing their builds. He'd had his eye on Southerns flyer, Joanna, for quite some time.

"Dude, just look at them!!! We have got to get cheerleaders to go to homecoming with us this year."

"We always do. But, I'm done dating cheerleaders. I think I'm going to try something a bit newer this year."

"What the hell? OHH I know. You're still thinking of that northern chick aren't you? That Ericka… you have got to get over that man. It was one kiss."

Bradin wanted to scream. He'd have really liked to just announce to everyone that he liked her, and he didn't give a shit what anyone else said, but she convinced him that the best thing for now was to wait until football season was over to tell anyone. He'd reluctantly agreed, so he wasn't going to tell Derek that he was in fact thinking of her.

"Yeah I know it was. And I am over it. It's just that dating any of the cheerleaders is going to be weird with Sara being around all the time, so I'm going in a different direction." Derek wasn't buying, but he wasn't going to argue.

"Whatever man." And with that he walked away, and practice was called back into order.

At 10:30 a.m. the girls arrived at the mall. They headed straight for Forever 21, simply because they knew for a fact that they could find a perfect dress for Ericka there. They browsed for a while then picked out three for her to try on. The first was a light blue one with narrow straps that came to her knee. It looked good but she didn't think that it was very attention grabbing. The second one was a red and white floral one that was mid thigh length. It initially caught her eye because it was Southern highs colors, and she wanted to show off that she didn't care about the difference of schools which Bradin seemed to think she was too worried about. However it didn't quite work either; it was a bit loose at the top and didn't flatter her nice body.

Then they hit a bought of good luck. The third was absolutely perfect. It was a short white dress with pink and orange floral prints on it. It hugged her body perfectly, and she knew it was probably the most perfect dress she'd find no matter how hard she tried. She had a pair of white strappy pumps at home from American eagle that would match well, so her outfit was set. When she came out of the dressing room she twirled around so Cricket could see the dress. "This is the one! It's perfect," she declared.

"Awe! Ericka, you look gorgeous!"

"Thanks! Oh my god! Bra…" she tried to cut herself off but Cricket's gaze was cutting through her like a knife. She sighed. "Brady Mitchell, the captain of the soccer team will love it," she lied.

"Do you like him?"

"Well kinda…" Really she didn't. He was cute, yes. But she knew she'd never have true feelings for him.

"Ericka! What about Shane? You know he's been crushing on you. And he's a football player. It's perfect!"

"I'm not into dating football players. They all have the IQ's of grapefruits and I enjoy having conversations about things other than the hatred our school has for freaking Southern High School!" Cricket looked a bit hurt and Ericka knew she'd gone a little overboard. "Look, I'm sorry for snapping like that. I'm just stressed about this year. I don't need to think about guys right now. Forget I even mentioned Brady. I'm sorry."

And just like that Cricket thought Ericka was back to square one. Little did she know that her best friend was just stressed for her first date with a guy she could really like, even if she wasn't supposed to. She really wanted Bradin. She had no clue as to why though.

The girls left the mall at 1:00 after grabbing a quick bite to eat and hitting up a few more stores. Ericka dropped Cricket off at the school so she could get her car, then she headed home. She had no idea what she was going to do with herself until 5:30 when she'd start getting ready. When she pulled into her driveway and got out of her car she finally reached into her back pocket and turned her phone back on. She didn't want Cricket to ask who was texting her if and when Bradin did, so she just didn't bother to turn it on after practice. She had five new messages. Three were just those damn forwards that she never even bothered to read and the last two were from Bradin.

The first one read: Hey darling. How was practice?

The second was: Umm… hello?

She laughed to herself as she opened her front door and went inside. After throwing her purse and cheer bag onto the floor and kicking her tennis shoes off she flopped down on her couch and replied.

Bradin was relieved when his text ringtone went off and he read his message from Ericka. He'd been a little worried about why she wasn't answering him. He knew he was paranoid, but with the way she acted about not telling anyone, he had to wonder if she would back out soon. And he didn't want her to at all.

The reply said: Hey stud. I was just out shopping sorry about that. Practice was alright… So got any big plans for this evening? ;-)

He replied: Oh just going out with some hott chick. She's a sweet girl.

Oh? What a coincidence I have a date myself! Where are you taking this girl?

Ah! You think you're sneaky don't you? Well I'm not giving in. We're going to dinner. That's all you get.

:-p

Haha thanks. But you'll like it. I promise.

I hope so. Well I'm going to go take a little nap and read the rest of my summer reading assignment. I'll see you at 7 correct?

Yep. Have fun reading. And sweet dreams. Xoxo.

Ha thanks. Xoxo.

Bradin went outside and mowed the little yard they had at their suburban home. Then he hand washed his Audi. After that he watched TV for a while. At 5:30 he couldn't take it anymore. He had to get ready. He knew it would only take him about 45 minutes to get completely ready but he didn't care. He was already so nervous he couldn't stand to think about it. He never got nervous over girls, but he couldn't shake this feeling.

Ericka started getting ready at precisely the same time Bradin did. She had tossed and turned in bed for at least an hour, and had long finished her book. Then ended up watching part of a The Secret Life of the American Teenager marathon until it was time to get ready. That's what she hated most about dates, she never did anything the days of, because she was too giddy. But she knew that this date would be worth it.

At 6:45 Bradin had been ready for fifteen minutes and had started to write his speech for the pep rally the first day of school. After glancing at the clock one more time he figured now was a good time to leave. It'd take him about fifteen minutes to get there which would make his timing right on.

Ericka had just finished her hair and got her shoes out of the closet. She smoothed her hands over her dress examining herself in the full length mirror in her foyer. She glanced at the clock reluctantly, knowing it hadn't been that long since the last time she looked. It read 6:55. She let out a long sigh, relived that her wait was almost over, and soon she'd be getting this show on the road. She redirected her attention to the mirror and looked over her reflection once more. She was happy with her appearance. So she put her shoes on and sat on her couch. As she concentrated on breathing, she heard each second passing at the hand moved slowly on the clock.

Bradin pulled into the driveway right at 6:58. "Ah with two minutes to spare," he said to himself. They both lived relatively close to the cutoff line that divided the schools' students so their houses were not too far from each other. Had he lived, literally, five miles down the road, he'd go to Northern. He got out of his car and took his time walking to the door. When he reached the porch he rang the doorbell and waited for her.

At the sound of the bell Ericka nearly jumped out of her skin. But not wanting to seem eager she took her time in stopping by the mirror once more and smoothing her hair, which she was wearing straight. Then grabbed her clutch and answered the door.

"Hey, you," Bradin said quickly as she stepped outside. "Wow you look great!" he looked her up and down.

"Thanks. You too." She replied looking at him. He had on an Orange dress shirt from Hollister with the sleeves rolled up a little and a pair of dressy jeans. "And look, we kinda match!" She indicated looking at the color of his shirt.

"Yeah, we do," he chuckled. "Well let's get going." He extended his arm which she linked hers through, and they walked to his car.

Most of the ride was only filled with the sounds of the radio. Occasionally one or the other would sing a few bars from a song. Other than that the silence was comfortable.

They arrived at their destination half an hour later; it was a little Italian restaurant just outside the city called Antony's. Turns out it's her favorite place to eat as well as his. They went in and ordered, him a plate of spaghetti, and her a grilled chicken gorgonzola salad. As they ate they talked about anything and everything. They were splitting a dessert while in the middle of the questions game.

"Favorite color?" she asked.

"Blue. Because that's the color your eyes are…"

"Awe, thank you. Your turn," she added taking a bite of cheesecake.

"If you could be anywhere, where would you be?" she paused a minute to think about it then smiled before replying.

"Here"

The game went on as he picked up the bill and they drove into the city and parked along the road. They ended up back in central park a little later. When they reached the exact place they'd been where they had shared their second kiss and then he stoped walking and stood right in front of Ericka.

"Do you remember this place?"

"Bradin, it's only been a week. Of course I do."

"Okay… tell me what happened here a week ago."

"I was asked on a date by a wonderful guy, who happens to be standing in front of me as I speak."

"Do you like him?"

"Yes… very much so." And that was the first she'd said it out loud. She really, really liked him.

"Okay then. Here goes nothing. Ericka, I can't get you out of my head. I think about you all the time. You are beautiful inside and out. I really like you too. Look, I know it's a little soon and we've only been talking for about a week, but I've never felt like this quite this fast. I mean, the moment I kissed you, I knew you were something special. I know I'm not the best at these things, and I am trying my best here," he began taking his nice, puma watch off his wrist and sliding it around hers, redoing the clasp, "but would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

Dun, dun, dunnnn! Haha. What will she say?? What should she say?? Haha let me know what you think. And thank you sooo much for being patient through my writers block. I'd greatly appreciate reviews!